LONGWOOD, Fla. — A beloved Central Florida educator is leading an effort to send much-needed food and supplies to survivors of the devastating floods that swept through Louisiana, the worst natural disaster to strike the United States since Hurricane Sandy four years ago.

Dr. Cheryl Johnson leads a program designed to prevent after school suspension at Lockhart Middle School, where she was named teacher of the year. When she learned of the flooding, she started a clothing drive with employees at the school, but she wanted to do more.

Like many schools throughout the country, Lockhart has a food pantry for students and their families in need, which included healthy meals from Feeding Children Everywhere (FCE). Having seen firsthand how these meals were well-received by local families, Dr. Johnson contacted FCE about sending meals to Louisiana.

The result of her efforts? On Friday morning, the 25,000 meals recently assembled by volunteers during FCE’s sixth birthday celebration will be loaded onto a truck at the organization’s headquarters in Longwood and driven to Louisiana by Dr. Johnson’s good friend Pastor Cardell Michael.

Nearly 7 trillion gallons of rain pummeled Louisiana over the span of one week, enough to fill more than 10.4 million Olympic-size swimming pools.

“This flood literally came from nowhere,” Pastor Michael remembers. “Before you knew it, the water came rushing in until all you see is rooflines.”

Pastor Michael’s restaurant is located next to a laundromat that still has power, and “hundreds of people with truckloads of clothes” are lining up there.

He concludes, “We’re hoping we can help many of them as the rebuilding begins.”

About Feeding Children Everywhere and U.S. Hunger

The mission of Feeding Children Everywhere (FCE) is a hunger-free world. Headquartered in Central Florida, FCE and its domestic program U.S. Hunger empower and mobilize people from all walks of life to assemble healthy meals for hungry children, families, seniors and veterans. Learn more at feedingchildreneverywhere.com and ushunger.com.